restaurant week dinner at benchmark

I almost missed out on the most recent round of Restaurant Week. I did manage to catch the final week and was excited to see Benchmark was on the list as participating. I’d been curious about Benchmark for quite a while, and was even more interested after seeing their menu for this summer. The cuisine is New American and the setting is casual yet nice enough for a nice date night out. Make it over before it cools down too much and you can sit in their front outside area, with a canvas canopy overhead. Romantic!

To start, I had to try the marinated steak and tomato salad, which featured baby arugula, spiced goat cheese, and a cilantro pesto. The steak was nicely flavored and thin, which worked well with the goat cheese and the cilantro pesto. It was interesting to lead the meal with red meat and then go back from there, but it worked as the salad was on the lighter side.

For our main course, we both had their East Coast Halibut, which was served with a corn and tomato succotash and a chilled asparagus broth. I really loved the mix of the veggies on this one. It was an ideal end of summer dish – fresh and light.

For a finale, there was the buttermilk panna cotta, served with local strawberries with a saffron gelato. While tasty, even this dessert lover had to admit that this wasn’t the highlight of the meal for me. The panna cotta wasn’t super flavorful, but I did really enjoy the gelato, which worked well with the strawberries.

I did take a peek at their normal menu, which oddly enough was basically completely different than the restaurant week menu. Interesting play for a restaurant. I can’t say I have seen another spot do that. I’d be curious to try it out again with their regular menu!